High Efficiency Hydrogen Turbine

ABSTRACT

Hydrogen is combusted in Oxygen to generate extremely high temperature steam. By feeding the combustion generated steam directly into a steam turbine, unprecedented high conversion efficiency to electricity is achieved.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The demand for nonpolluting sources of electricity is expanding. In addition to problems associated with nitric oxide, sulfur oxide, carbon monoxide and particulates; recent concerns about global climate change are driving the demand for pollution free power generation systems that substantially reduce carbon dioxide, a major component of greenhouse gas.

Hydrogen energy has been demonstrated as a clean alternative to hydrocarbon fuels. The byproduct of hydrogen/oxygen combustion is pure water vapor. Hydrogen can be produced from water utilizing almost any source of energy. While many renewable energy sources are nonpolluting, they are often considerably more expensive than hydrocarbon fuels. When hydrocarbons are used to generate hydrogen, carbon dioxide is produced as a byproduct in roughly the same proportions that would result from the direct combustion of the hydrocarbon fuel. If hydrogen could be more efficiently converted to electrical power, the cost of electricity from renewable sources would be decreased thereby becoming more competitive with other sources. Furthermore, a more efficient method of converting hydrogen to electricity would reduce carbon dioxide emissions when producing hydrogen from hydrocarbon fuels, since a smaller amount of hydrocarbon would be required to produce an equivalent amount of electrical power.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is directed towards a process for producing electrical power from hydrogen at a significantly higher efficiency utilizing affordable and proven systems. The process utilizes super high temperature steam which is generated by the combustion of hydrogen in oxygen. This reaction generates steam at around 5,000 degrees F. Conventional processes utilize the super high temperature steam to heat a water source resulting in end product steam thousands of degrees cooler than the original combustion. This thinking is seriously flawed since the efficiency of a Rankine Cycle is highly dependent on the temperature differential of the process. The steam directly resulting from the hydrogen/oxygen combustion is better utilized directly powering the steam turbine, thereby achieving a significant efficiency gain with the resultant benefit of lower cost power and reduced carbon dioxide emissions.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Referring to FIG. 1, an apparatus of the present invention preferably consists of a source of hydrogen 1, a source of oxygen 2, a combustor 3, the super high temperature steam exhaust from the combustor 4, and super high temperature steam turbine 5, an electric generator 7, and a discharge of generated electrical power 8.

The hydrogen can be produced by any method or combination of methods including water electrolysis utilizing power from solar, wind, hydroelectric, or nuclear power, methane reformation, coal gasification, or any other source.

The oxygen for the reaction can be produced by removing nitrogen from air. To be able to achieve the desired super high steam temperature, an oxygen feed stream must be provided with a high concentration of oxygen.

The combustor is a simple combustion device such as has been described in the literature. It is important that the output from the combustor be directed to the turbine without the conventional intermediate step of heating a water source or injecting cool steam or water into the product stream since the resulting lower temperature will reduce the overall efficiency which is the key to this system. 

What is claimed is:
 1. A system for generating electrical power comprising: a source of hydrogen fuel; a source of combustion oxygen; a combustor comprising a burner for burning the hydrogen fuel in oxygen thereby generating a super high temperature supply of steam; and at least one or more steam turbine driven by the super high temperature steam to generate electrical power.
 2. The system of claim 1, wherein the supply of super high temperature steam is directed to the steam turbine without any external water source.
 3. The system of claim 1, wherein the supply of super high temperature steam is directed to the combustor without any external steam source.
 4. A method of generating power comprising the steps of: burning hydrogen in oxygen and thereby generating a source of super high temperature steam which is not cooled by adding a water or external steam source to the process; driving one or more steam turbines with the super high temperature steam to generate electrical power, to drive pumps or compressors, or to drive a shaft for some useful purpose. 